What could our shopkeepers learn? (Debate)

Sun 26 Apr 2020, 16:54 (last edited on Sun 26 Apr 2020, 17:38)

I presume you are referring to our conversation yesterday, Liz. I had just come back from Chipping Norton having gone there for the first time in three weeks to shop when you saw me and I have to say I did rather feel as if I was being told off for having the nerve to actually drive somewhere to do my shopping!  I think that the Deli and the Co-op are both doing a brilliant job, and before we get judgemental about people travelling to Chippy or Witney to shop, please remember that some of us are shopping for others. I, for example,  am getting a lot of stuff for my neighbour who is housebound, as well as for myself. The range of food available at the Co-op in Chippy is brilliant these days and while you could argue that we should be able to buy all we need locally I cannot see our little co-op having the space to include all that Chippy offers, and who is going to invest in and stock all the small shops we would need to be able to provide these goods?  While it is nice to dream of a time when we will never go anywhere other than on foot or by bike, or live in an imaginary past that was full of shops with simple fresh food that you could buy locally, the reality is rather different.  In the fifties when I was a child, we had a greengrocer and a butcher and a little grocery shop and a sweet shop in our small town and the food was very poor quality compared with what we eat today.  Plus, people want to move around, because we are social, curious animals and want to see what is going on in our world.  Living in a small community, even one as lovely as Charlbury, and never going anywhere else, might sound idyllic but is that really what we want for ourselves and for future generations? In another post someone made the point that for people with arthritis, driving to a place where they can walk on the flat was necessary. For many people using cars is going to continue to be necessary for all sorts of things, especially as the population ages. The real challenge is to accept this and to ask ourselves how we make it possible for people to do what people have always done (not just in the 21st century but for many centuries before) and explore the world around them, but to do it in ways that do not destroy the planet.  How are we going to ensure that we have enough points for us all to charge electric cars in future? A genuine challenge in Charlbury where so many of us have to park on the street.  How are we going make sure that we have adequate bus services as well as making cycling easier? These are the questions I want to try and find answers to and if we can make it possible in future for people to travel for work, pleasure or shopping by whatever means they choose without feeling that they are damaging the environment or going to be open to criticism, then that for me would be a real win.